Happy Ever After
by DRL
Summary: Followup story to 'From Hell' & Up to Heaven'. From his point of view this time, Heero relates the story of his and Duo's meeting, their engagement and the events leading up to their wedding.


Happy Ever After

By DRL

_AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is a follow-up story to 'From Hell' and 'Up To Heaven'. People wanted to know what happened after the engagement, so here it is – from Heero's point of view this time. For those who would like to remind themselves of what 'From Hell' and 'Up to Heaven'' were all about, they can be found here on or onMediaMiner_

An Epiphany. That's what happened to me the moment Duo Maxwell blundered in to my life – I experienced an epiphany. There was I, plodding along thinking I was perfectly content and happy, but I never really knew what happiness was until I met Duo. When I first saw him, seated at a desk in the reference room of the public library, I never imagined that a mere eighteen months later I would be married to him and as idiotically besotted as a man could ever be, but something definitely happened to me that day – something that turned my life completely upside down and changed it in ways I never thought possible.

It was the hair that first caught my eye. I have always had a bit of a 'thing' for long hair. Although I am not really attracted to women, I can appreciate beauty in all its forms and I find long hair very beautiful. It was not only the long, thick braid that arrested my attention, but the rich chestnut colour and the way in which it shone in the shards of sunlight that streamed in through the windows. Assuming that I was looking upon a woman, I turned away and carried on about my business which, incidentally, was seeking out a computer programming reference book. After browsing for a while I found my book, and as I made my way to the photocopier to copy the few pages that I needed, I passed the desk of the long-haired woman, and as I did so I took in two facts at a glance. The first was that the face was as beautiful as the hair that framed it and the second was that as fine-boned, delicate featured and long-haired as this person was, it was definitely no woman. This fact piqued my interest anew.

The copier was only a short distance from the table where he was working and as I made my copies I studied him surreptitiously. He was absolutely gorgeous and suddenly it occurred to me to wonder what it would be like to walk out one evening with a beauty like that on my arm. 'In your wet dreams, Yuy' I thought, but then as I later watched him from a strategic vantage point behind a bookcase, he rose from his seat and crossed to the copier. I think a madness overtook me at that moment and I did a thing that I am not overly proud of and I will not dwell upon it here. The only thing that I can say for myself in mitigation is that it brought us together. I acted on impulse, a thing I have never previously done and the only time I have ever done it since was when I asked Duo to marry me. Don't get me wrong, my proposal was no less sincere for its being impromptu. It's just that I had almost lost him, through my own fault admittedly but nevertheless, and I wanted to make sure that such a thing never happened again. I wanted to bind him to me forever, so I blurted out the one statement I felt would accomplish this, and it did.

Way before this, however, my first impulse-action had brought about the desired result and he agreed to have dinner with me. I will never forget the strange state of nervous excitement that had overtaken me as I waited at the table for him in the restaurant. I refused to even consider the fact that he might stand me up, and I had no way of knowing his sexual preference, but I told myself that I would play that one by ear. He did not stand me up and when he was shown to the table, the appraising glance with which his eyes roamed over me told me all I needed to know about his sexual preference, so the game was afoot.

I have to say that close to, his face was even more beautiful than I had first supposed, and in the library I had been too far away to notice his eyes particularly. I now saw that these were of a watery violet hue, and they were the sort of eyes a man would die for. He was theatrically dressed in a beautiful brocaded frock coat, black jeans and a white shirt, and his glorious hair was unbraided and hung loose from a black silk scarf, which caught it up in a ponytail at the nape of his neck. He was undoubtedly one of the most attractive, if not **the** most attractive person that I have ever had the pleasure to look upon, but unlike every other such person that I have encountered, he seemed genuinely oblivious of the fact.

"You know, I'm gonna let you into a little secret." He said as he leaned conspiratorially towards me as we sat together at the table awaiting the arrival of our main courses, bringing our heads tantalisingly close together. He had a delightfully exuberant way with him and had been chatting almost incessantly about this and that from the moment of his arrival. I smiled encouragingly at him and he continued. "I feel a little bit out of place here...," He made an expansive gesture which I think was meant to indicate the restaurant as a whole. His next words confirmed this. "... in a fancy place like this, among all of these 'beautiful people' **and...**," and he said it as if this were the most amazing point of all, "... with a guy like you! Little ole me, I can hardly believe it."

I think that this was the first thing I began to love about him. He was completely unaware of how devastatingly beautiful he was. He was oblivious to the fact that all eyes turned to him whenever he walked into a room and he had absolutely no concept of the effect that he had on others. He once described himself as 'stupid-looking, with weird eyes, a pointy chin, rubber lips and freckles'... I ask you!

"Heero, what do you see in me?"

He was recovering from a particularly severe bout of flu at the time. He was staying at my apartment so that I could take care of him and nurse him back to health. He was over the worst but he was feeling a little depressed and out of sorts. He had recovered sufficiently to be able to take a shower, and he was attempting to coax a brush through his tangled hair as he stood at the bathroom mirror.

"Look at me – I'm stupid-looking, with weird eyes, a pointy chin, rubber lips and freckles. You could have just about anyone you want, so what can a good-looking guy like you possibly see in someone like me? "

I was in the bathroom clearing hair out of the shower drain (one annoying drawback of long hair). I heard the quaver in his voice and I realised that he was genuinely upset. We hadn't been together all that long at the time and I guess he was still feeling a little insecure in the relationship, and the flu wasn't helping. I went up to him, took the brush from him, turned him to face me (and away from that confounded mirror).

"Duo, I'll tell you what I see in you." I said. "I see an extremely attractive young man with an unbelievably sexy body. But more than that, I see a young man with a brilliant mind and a wonderfully magnanimous and generous heart. **That's** what I see in you Duo. You're beautiful on the outside, but more importantly, you are doubly beautiful on the inside."

He began to cry then, so I put my arms around him and held him close. I tucked him back into bed after that, where he remained firmly ensconced for a few more days, until he was really feeling better. Perhaps I had been a little hasty in allowing him to get up quite so soon.

On that first date, if there was one thing I learned about Duo, it was that he was a talkative fellow. By the end of that date, I don't think there was one thing about his past and present that I didn't know. The funny thing was that he wasn't like some people who simply enjoy the sound of their own voices and their favourite subject is themselves, he was simply an outgoing and friendly person. He would have chatted away quite happily about any subject I happened to raise, but I kept steering the conversation back to him, so that was what he talked about. Among other things of course, but Duo Maxwell was definitely the topic of the evening.

After we left the restaurant he took me to a bar he knew. We walked in and Duo was greeted or hailed by just about every single person there before we even reached the bar. I had never seen anything like it. He seemed to know absolutely everyone in there. 'We might run into one or two of my friends' he had said, which was an understatement in the extreme. He bought us a couple of drinks (a glass of red wine for me and a beer for him) and he led me through the throng of bodies to a mixed group seated in a corner of the bar, by the window. Once again, he knew them all and he introduced me simply as 'Heero'. It was immediately apparent that the group had assumed the obvious - to wit, that Duo and I were an item. I was both smugly pleased and a little nervous about this, the former because, as I have mentioned previously, Duo was an extremely attractive individual and being mistaken for his boyfriend did my vanity no harm whatsoever, the latter because one word from Duo would put the whole group straight on the true nature of our relationship, relegating me to the position of, what, a mere friend? Not even that really, when all was said and done. Duo said nothing, however, and although he definitely did nothing to fuel the group's assumption, he also did nothing to disabuse them, for which I was extremely grateful, I have to admit.

I am not of a particularly sociable bent and I myself have very few friends (well I did before my marriage anyway, although I now seem to have acquired a few thousand more) but I made light, amiable conversation with Duo's friends that evening, despite the fact that by all accounts I might never see these people again. As the conversation flowed it was evident that they all took it for granted that Duo and I were a couple, and our eyes met conspiratorially once or twice as various telling statements and comments were made. I recall that we even received a joint invitation to a drinks party for the forthcoming weekend from one of Duo's friends, which Duo gladly accepted on behalf of both of us. It became increasingly clear to me that Duo was as keen to keep up the pretence as I was, then it suddenly occurred to me to wonder whether it really was a pretence.

When we left the bar the dynamic between us had subtly but palpably altered. We stood outside the bar, beneath a streetlamp, gazing into each other's eyes, and if that wasn't longing and desire I saw written in those dazzling amethyst eyes, then I've never seen it. I knew then exactly how the evening would end. It was just a matter of which one of us would dare to broach the subject. In the end I did, which seemed only right, because it was me who had asked him out to dinner in the first place.

After making a poor show of attempting to find Duo a taxi home, poor because I think we both knew that there was no way we were going our separate ways that night, I thought 'What the hell', threw caution and propriety to the winds and asked him if he would like to come home with me. The spark of excitement in his eyes told me that he was well aware that I was not talking about a nightcap either. "I thought you'd never ask." he replied boldly, which I took as a 'yes' and I staked my claim with a kiss. There ended the only real pretence there had been all evening – the pretence that we could actually keep our hands off each other.

From that moment on we gave ourselves over to our obvious passion for each other. It had been there all the time, from the moment he had walked into the restaurant, but we held it in check no longer. There then followed a night of the most amazing sex of my life and I went to sleep sated, but apprehensive.

Hindsight being 20:20, I can see how foolish I was back then, but at the time... You see, I desperately wanted to hang on to Duo, but I was at a loss to see how I could accomplish this. To me he seemed completely out of my league. He was beautiful, witty, intelligent, popular, all the things I was not (except perhaps intelligent), and I didn't see what I had to offer him that might keep him interested in me. Oh yes, he had certainly wanted me all that evening, but I had assumed that this was pure animal lust. I would be lying if I said that I didn't realise that I had a certain physical attraction. I am not so naïve as not to have realised this, but I had also learned, from painful past experience, that I was lacking in one or two other accomplishments that might keep a man interested. I had hitherto been singularly unsuccessful in the relationship arena, and really didn't want to end up chalking this one up as another of Heero Yuy's great romantic failures. I learned a good while later that he was actually thinking the exact same thing, and we have a good old laugh about it now, but it was a seemingly insurmountable problem at the time.

I had gotten it into my head that he would slink away during the night, but he did not, and we made love again in the morning, which was equally as amazing as it had been the previous night, if such a thing were possible. After spending the morning mentally rehearsing ways of asking whether I could see him again, he handed me an opportunity on a plate, and it ended up being so absurdly easy that I could have laughed out loud. Duo was at college but had a job as a part-time research assistant to one of his tutors who was writing a book. This tutor kept making unwelcome advances towards him, and that morning, as I was driving Duo to the campus, he mentioned that he didn't know what he was going to say to his tutor today to repel his advances.

"Just tell him you have a boyfriend." I blurted out without even thinking.

"Okay." He said, and sighed so happily and contentedly that that, I realised with relieved satisfaction, was quite neatly, that.

Having secured Duo as my boyfriend, I was totally unprepared for the wash of feeling that he would evoke within me. I had had relationships in the past (albeit few and far between), and although I realised that Duo was different from all the rest from the outset, I didn't realise that he would make me feel and act so differently than any of the others had. I have never been a very physically demonstrative person, and I would be lying if I said that I became one overnight simply because Duo required it of me, but I definitely did loosen up after meeting him. For some reason Duo seemed to bring out every male protective instinct I possessed, and all I wanted to do was shield and protect him from everything and everyone out there that might want to hurt him or make him unhappy. If it made him happy to hold my hand as we walked in the street, then I let him hold my hand. It was no real inconvenience to me and it brought such a sunny smile to his face that even if it did cause me any difficulty, I would have borne it a hundred times over.

It took me some time to realise why it was that Duo evoked such feelings in me, and when I did it brought me up short. I had wanted a relationship with Duo, but I had never thought about falling in love. In fact, I never thought I was capable of such an emotion, but Duo proved otherwise. It slowly dawned on me that I had gone and fallen head over heels in love with him, and this didn't figure in my master plan at all. You see, to cut a very long and shameful story short, I did Duo a great wrong, even before we had actually met, and I had all along expected him to walk out on me quite completely if he ever found out about it. In fact, I had begun the relationship with him fully expecting him to grow tired of me and to move on way before this thing ever became an issue, and my falling in love with him had never even factored. However, as they say in Scotland, the best laid plans of mice and men gang aft agley, and plans have never ganged as agley as this one did.

Even though we are happily married now and everything has been forgiven if not entirely forgotten (on my part anyway), I am still mortally ashamed of what I did, and I refuse to repeat it here. Suffice it to say that Duo did find out, and it almost tore us apart (although not **because** he found out, if that makes any sense). The whole thing was my fault, and I almost paid the ultimate price..., almost. This was a major setback in our relationship, but as they say, all's well that ends well and it all ended very well indeed, with my proposing to Duo and his accepting me. However, we didn't exactly laugh all the way to the altar. Unfortunately, we had an extremely unpleasant occurrence during the run-up to our wedding, which resulted in my falling out with one of my best friends, Chang Wufei

Wufei and I go back, way, way back. We've known each other long and we know each other well. He and I have a similar temperament. We are neither of us very sociable people, and we both have very few friends, besides each other. Another mutual friend was Trowa Barton. The three of us hung out together. Coincidentally, we were all three of us gay, which made such socialising as we did do a little easier. As I said, we all hung out together, and although one or other of us periodically dipped a toe in the murky water of relationships, we were none of us particularly successful in this area. That is until Trowa met Quatre Winner. Quatre was an androgynous, cutie-pie, blue-eyed blond, with a sweet, sunny disposition and a heart of gold. He was also extremely rich. Trowa fell for him like a ton of bricks, and his feelings were reciprocated.

This was all fine and dandy, and as his best friends Wufei and I should have been happy for Trowa, but it didn't quite work out that way. I was very happy for the pair of them. They were so foolishly in love with one another and I was glad for Trowa. At least one of us had found love. Wufei, on the other hand, seemed to exhibit a rather odd reaction. Instead of being pleased, he seemed rather resentful of Trowa's good fortune. I'm not sure if Trowa himself noticed it, his head being in the clouds somewhat, but I certainly did. Wufei's manner towards the blond was a little cooler than one might expect from a best friend, and I myself witnessed him make some rather scathing remarks to poor Quatre. I had even determined to say something to him about it, but as time went on we saw less and less of them both, as happens in such situations, so there was no real need in the end. I never did find out why Wufei behaved in this way, but when Trowa eventually married Quatre, things seemed to settle down and we all became friends again.

Unfortunately though, when Duo and I got together, I noticed a recurrence of the phenomenon. Once again, Wufei seemed to resent my having finally found someone, rather than being pleased for me. Now unlike Trowa, I wasn't too blinded by love to see what was going on under my very nose. Wufei was up to his old tricks again, and this time he went even further. Duo, bless him, never said a word, but I kept a discreet watch whenever they were together and sure enough, Wufei's manner towards him was positively glacial and some of his remarks were downright rude. .

Duo had had quite a tough upbringing and he was able to roll with the punches. He could hold his own in an argument and was able to give as good, if not better, than he got. Unlike Quatre, who had lived a sheltered and coddled life and whose fine, delicate sensibilities were easily bruised, Duo's tough hide was unlikely to be scored by a few sharp words, or so I thought. Because of this and because of our past friendship, I didn't do anything about it. I maintained a watching brief, cut Wufei a lot of slack and let a lot of things slide while I held my peace, bided my time and waited to see whether things might settle down again, as they did with Quatre. This proved to have been a big mistake.

The whole thing came to a head one evening a couple of weeks before our wedding. The five of us, were over at Quatre & Trowa's house. We had finished dinner and had retired to the games room where Quatre, Trowa and I were engaged in a serious game of poker. As I said, Quatre was very rich and his and Trowa's marital home was large enough to have a dedicated games room (and a TV room, and a ballroom, and an exercise room – in fact, rooms galore!) Quatre was running rings around Trowa and I as usual (I tell you, that guy is not called Winner for nothing), and as he was scooping up his latest pile of winning chips, he looked around the room and said,

"What's happened to Duo?"

Suddenly alert, I too looked around the room. Quatre was right – Duo was nowhere to be seen. I hastily cast my mind back and the last time I recalled seeing him was when we sat down to play cards about an hour previously. He had declined to join us, as had Wufei, and he had gotten himself a drink and settled himself over at the billiard table, casually potting a few balls. I suddenly felt overwhelmed with guilt for having neglected him and left him to his own devices while I immersed myself in the poker game. I looked across to where Wufei sat carelessly sprawled on a club sofa, thumbing through the late editions of the day's newspapers.

"Wufei, do you know where Duo is?" I asked him in all innocence, completely unsuspecting. He shrugged absently, as if he didn't much care where Duo was, but as he did so he lifted his eyes from the newspaper and they met mine for a second. What I read in those cold, obsidian depths told a very different story. Despite his shrug, his eyes told me that he knew exactly where Duo was and the reason for his absence. A frisson of alarm and foreboding ran through me and I cursed myself anew for not having kept an eye on my fiancé. I rose abruptly, causing my chair to topple over backwards.

"Excuse me for a moment," I said to Quatre and Trowa as they both gaped at me in astonishment, "I'll just make sure that Duo's alright." I didn't even pause to right the chair as I rushed out of the room. I did, however, vouchsafe Wufei a look that promised a bitter retribution if anything had happened to Duo because of him.

It took me a while to find him because of the size of the house and the number of rooms; I had to check each one. I eventually found him in a minor guest bedroom tucked away right at the top of the house. I almost missed him too. I opened the door and peered perfunctorily in, but there was no light on in the room and I assumed it to be empty. As I withdrew my head, however, I heard a muffled sniff, which could also have been a sob. It was definitely a human sound, and a distressed human sound at that. I went back into the room, took a proper look round and saw what I had missed before – the small figure seated on the window ledge, silhouetted against the moonlight.

"Duo...?"

I fumbled for the light switch and flooded the room with artificial light. His face was turned towards me and instead of a reply he gave another sniff-cum-sob and dragged his knuckles across his cheeks, wiping away tears, even as others glistened in his eyes, ready to fall anew. I crossed the room and took him into my arms.

"Duo, whatever is the matter?" I asked in total confusion and incredulity. I could not imagine what could have possibly have happened in Quatre & Trowa's quiet, uneventful house to bring Duo to this, when a short while ago he was happily drinking coke and potting billiard balls. I just couldn't understand it. Then I remembered Wufei and that look in his eyes when I asked him about Duo. Duo clung to me for a moment, then he released himself and wiping at his cheeks again he said,

"Oh it's nothing; I've just got a real bad headache is all." He looked at me with a plaintive look of desperate appeal and said in a small voice, "Heero, can we go home please?" Then his face crumpled and he buried his head in my shoulder and sobbed as though his heart would break.

I got the story out of him eventually, but not without great difficulty because even under the circumstances, he was reluctant to rat on 'my friend' Wufei.

"(Sniff) I went to the kitchen to get another coke 'cos that little fridge under the bar only had beer, no soda, and the butler guy had gone to bed. (Sniff) I grabbed a coke from the big fridge in the kitchen and I was just turning round to go back to the rumpus room, and he was there, right in front of me. He (sniff)..., he came up so quietly, I swear I never heard a thing."

In spite of everything, I smiled at the thought of Quatre & Trowa's elegant games room being referred to as a 'rumpus room'. Duo then told me how Wufei had accused him of deliberately and calculatingly ensnaring me for my supposed money, although I am hardly a rich man and if this is what Duo had wanted he could have found far richer pickings elsewhere.

"'So you've got what you wanted you gold-digging little guttersnipe' he said to me. (Sniff) I was so shocked that I didn't even say anything. 'You managed to make him marry you, although, I must say, I would have thought that Yuy had more sense than to lose his head over a pretty piece of tail.' He looked me up and down, then he said, 'Mind you, looking like you do, perhaps I'm not all that surprised – I'll bet you're quite the honey-trap and I suppose Heero is only human and as susceptible to a pretty face and a tight ass as the next man. After all, Trowa fell for Little Lord Fauntleroy, so I suppose it can happen to the best of us.' Then he put his face real close to mine and said, 'Don't think we don't know what you're up to. We all know – me, Trowa, even Quatre knows. We all know that you are only interested in Heero for what you can get out of him. Have a care you little tart, we'll be watching out for our friend'." Then Duo broke down again.

Of course I asked him why he came all the way up here on his own rather than coming to tell me what had happened, but I his response was quite predictable.

"How could I tell you? What if it was true? What if all your friends really did think that about me? He called me a gold-digger Heero..."

And it was this that had upset Duo so much. Being called names he could cope with, verbal abuse he could cope with, but being accused of the one thing that was completely alien to his nature, the one thing that anathema to him was just too much.

"He called me a gold-digger. I've tried so hard not to take anything from you; I've tried not to be a leech. I have, haven't I?" I assured him as to this point. "But how could they still think that about me? You haven't told them anything have you?" I assured him most strongly as to this point also. Then he dropped the bombshell. "I dunno Heero, maybe we shouldn't get married."

This is exactly what I was afraid of. I definitely did not want Duo thinking along such lines. Ever since our last little 'upset', even though he had agreed to marry me and he seemed very happy about it, I did notice a little insecurity about him that was never there before. I didn't want to lose him, and I flatter myself that he didn't want to lose me either. Unfortunately, my nature is such that my fear manifested itself as anger and hostility.

"So you don't want to marry me then," I said coldly, "You've changed your mind, is that it?" I could sense my gaze becoming flinty and I knew that the look I gave him was more accusatory than sympathetic.

"No, of course not!" Duo cried emphatically and wrung his hands. His voice was high-pitched and shrill and I realised that the poor thing was near hysteria in his desperation. He burst into a fresh flood of desperate weeping. I immediately regretted the harshness of my tone. He was upset enough without my adding to his distress with my fear-induced censure. I pulled him into a hug and rubbed soothing circles on his back in an attempt to calm him.

"Shhh," I murmured, "It's okay."

He clung desperately to me for some moments, then he released me and looked at me with desperate pleading in those beautiful violet eyes.

"Heero," He began, "I want to marry you more than I've ever wanted anything in my whole sorry life. It's like a dream come true and I thank god every day for bringing you to me, but I want to marry you because I love you, not for anything I might be able to get from you. After Wufei said that to me I just wanted to get away from him so I ran out of the kitchen, but I couldn't go back into the rumpus room because Quatre and Trowa were there, and like I said, what if what Wufei said was true? So I came up here 'cos it was right at the top of the house and right away from Wufei. Then I got to thinking – what if you thought that too? I don't think I've given you any reason to think it, but you and Wufei are best friends and..." I pulled him to me again and reassured him that I didn't think any such thing, and neither did Quatre or Trowa.

I thought it best to take Duo home as soon as was possible, but I had a score to settle with Mr Chang first. I took Duo back downstairs, but he refused to go back into the games room, so I settled him into the passenger seat of my car, bade him wait there for me and I went back into the house. I strode into the games room and stood in front of Wufei, ignoring Quatre, who was prattling something about wondering where I was and the game getting cold. Wufei was still lying on the sofa, but when he saw me he lowered the newspaper he was reading and sat up apprehensively.

"Get up Chang." I said in a stentorian voice.

He actually complied, which surprised me, knowing Wufei as I do. He swung his legs to the floor and rose slowly. Quatre had stopped talking and he and Trowa sat in astonished and apprehensive silence. Wufei looked at me with his customary defiance, but I could also see fear in his obstinate gaze.

"Outside, now!" I jerked my head toward the door.

"No." Wufei replied, and the satisfying quaver in his voice gave him away. He was definitely scared.

"Don't make me do this in Quatre & Trowa's house." I warned him, but he still did not move.

"Very well." I said resignedly. "If that's the way you want it..." I grabbed a handful of his shirtfront, drew back my arm and drove my fist into his face with all the force I could muster, which was considerable, considering the rage I was in.

I heard a cry from behind me, which I assumed came from Quatre, but Wufei himself made no sound. He spun around, fell to the floor and stayed there. A quantity of blood flew out in a spray pattern as he spun and fell, and I remembered thinking 'good' and hoping that he was badly hurt. It was a terrible thought, but my blood was up. I turned on my heel and walked to the card table. Quatre and Trowa were no longer seated but standing together, Quatre's head buried in Trowa's shoulder and Trowa's arms around him. Trowa looked at me over the top of his husband's head, completely without reproach or censure. In fact, I'm not sure there wasn't a little merriment dancing in those green eyes.

"I'm sorry." I said simply, and I left the room and the house.

I took Duo back to my apartment since there was no question of leaving him alone that night. When I climbed into the driver's seat of the car he saw the blood on my shirt and that shook him up a little bit. He was relieved to discover that it wasn't actually my blood, but it distressed him that any blood at all was spilt on his account and it made him a little weepy again.

When we got home I took three tried and trusted steps towards making Duo feel better and forget his troubles, if only for one night. Firstly I made him a huge, steaming mug of frothy hot chocolate, complete with marshmallows. Then I snuggled with him on the sofa while he sipped it. Finally, I took him to bed and made love to him, good and hard. That sorted him out and he slept like a log until morning.

"I can't say I blame you." Trowa said wryly. Having packed Duo off to college the next morning, I had gone back to Trowa & Quatre's house to apologise properly for my behaviour the previous evening, "I'm only surprised it took you so long. In fact, I have been itching to do the selfsame thing myself for a long while."

Quatre was out in the garden pruning roses, or some such other harmless pursuit, and Trowa and I were alone. I had, of course, apologised to them both but it was Trowa that I really came to see. Sensing this, he artfully despatched Quatre without giving the blond any indication that his presence was not required, and we got down to business.

It transpired that I had been quite wrong in supposing that Trowa had been oblivious of Wufei's behaviour towards Quatre prior to their marriage. Not only was he as aware as I was, he was also as piqued as I was. In fact, the only reason he allowed it to continue was because Quatre, as kind and gentle a soul as ever lived, had made him promise to do nothing about it.

"He told me that he didn't want to be the reason for me falling out with my friends," Trowa stated, "So he insisted that I refrain from taking the issue up with Wufei. He made me promise faithfully." Trowa, of course, was completely in thrall to his blond lover and would never break such an oath, once made. "I had to bite my tongue more than once though." He admitted. "Things seemed to settle down after we got married," He continued, "Which is just as well, because promise or no promise, I was this close..." He indicated a distance between his thumb and forefinger of about one quarter of an inch, "To, well..., doing pretty much as you did yesterday."

I nodded sagely. So that was the truth of the matter. Well Trowa was a pretty consummate actor (which, as he trod the boards for a living was hardly surprising), because I could have sworn that he was completely oblivious to Wufei's taunts and jibes. He rewarded me with a withering look when I mentioned this.

"How could I not notice? If not for the promise I made to my dear one, he wouldn't have gotten away with it for a moment. I know exactly why you did what you did yesterday and although I would rather Cat not witness such violence, especially in our own home...," He waved me to silence as I opened my mouth to begin a fresh round of apologies, "... part of me wanted to slap you on the back and say 'atta boy, and give him one for me too'."

"Why do you think he behaves this way?" I asked Trowa, hoping that perhaps he had some idea of what was wrong with our mutual friend, "Is it jealousy do you think?" Trowa gave me a wry smile.

"I think it's even more primal an emotion than that, my friend." He replied. "I think it's fear; cold, naked fear, pure and simple." He went on to explain. "I think Wufei is afraid of being alone. Don't forget that the three of us did absolutely everything together. We were almost like lovers, except for the sex." He gave me a penetrating look as he said this, one finely arched brow raised. I held his gaze, but I felt my cheeks burn. He continued.

"When I met Cat, Wufei sensed the initial threat to our cosy little threesome. Of course when Cat arrived on the scene I had to devote some of my time, and eventually most of it to him. Wufei resented this. I could see it a little in his attitude towards me, but to a much greater extent in his attitude towards Cat. You were fine, but Wufei..., well, you know exactly what I mean – you saw it for yourself. I knew it for what it was though.

"Aside from me and you, Wufei has no other friends - none at all. Outside of his teaching work, we are his entire world. He has no-one part from us; no family, no friends, no-one. He saw Quatre as a threat to this precarious security and he acted accordingly. When Cat and I got married I think he resigned himself to the fact that Cat was in my life - in OUR lives - to stay and there was nothing he could do about it, and that at least he had you. When you met Duo the threat became even greater and being left alone became a very real possibility. This is probably why he was harder on Duo than he ever was on Cat. You noticed that too? Yes, I thought you might. I assumed that you had figured it the way I had and you were cutting him some slack because he wasn't being mean for the sake of it, but out of fear and desperation." I shook my head and confessed to being completely mystified by Wufei's behaviour. Trowa nodded sagely. "So what did he do to earn himself a slug last night?" He asked.

Although I had apologised profusely and had given a vague reason for my behaviour the night before, I had not given any specifics, mainly because of Quatre's presence in the room at the time. I was not sure how much he knew or didn't know, so I opted for caution. I now told Trowa the whole story, including the pitiable state I had found Duo in. Once I had finished Trowa nodded again and steepled his fingers beneath his chin.

"He deserved everything he got." He said simply.

Trowa went on to tell me that having staunched the flow of blood, they called a neighbour that also happened to be a doctor, who diagnosed a broken nose, extensive bruising and a mild concussion. They then took him to the local emergency unit, where his nose was splinted and patched up, then on home; he had declined their offer of hospitality for the night.

Quatre re-entered the room at this point and fell upon Trowa as though he had not seen him for a whole year. While this gratuitous display of affection might have irritated me once, it did so no longer. I now knew exactly how they felt. I shook my head indulgently and took my leave of the two love-birds. As I drove home it occurred to me to wonder what Wufei would say to his pupils as he turned up for school looking like he had been in a fight. Oh to have been a fly on that classroom wall!

The wedding day approached and I became reconciled to the fact that Wufei would not be there. I have to admit to a pang or two of regret - not for having hit him; I would have done the same again in a heartbeat. No, I regretted the end of Wufei's and my friendship and the fact that he would not be at my wedding. We had been through much together, Wufei, Trowa and I and in spite of everything, I wanted him to be there and I was sorry that he would not be. Being single, Wufei was to have acted as my best man but we hastily rearranged things so that Trowa took over and would perform this service for me. I knew that Trowa and Quatre were still in contact with Wufei, but I heard no news of him from them and I was grateful for their tact and sensitivity. I myself refrained from mentioning his name. Duo asked me about him once or twice, but having received only terse, taciturn replies to his queries, he knew enough to let that particular subject drop.

In truth, my emotions were in turmoil. I was torn between loyalty to Duo, and my friendship with Wufei. I felt no remorse for what I had done, but I felt a deep sense of loss whenever I thought of Wufei and what we once meant to each other. This then made me feel guilty for what I saw as my disloyalty to Duo. I couldn't find it in my heart to hate Wufei for what he had done to Duo, or even to dislike him, however hard I tried and this made me feel even more guilty and faithless. All of this, along with an important project I was working on and the final preparations for the wedding made me pretty poor company and I 'm sorry to say that poor Duo bore the brunt of it all, but being the phenomenal person that he is he took it all on the chin, smiled through my fits of pique, anger and irritation and did not complain – not once.

Duo and I had planned to spend the night before our wedding apart, not through any reasons of observing tradition, but because Duo's friend Hilde had promised to help him to get ready. As she lived in the apartment across the all from his, it was more convenient for him to stay there than with me. We had decided to make our marital home in my apartment. It was the obvious choice since mine was larger and better appointed, but had Duo not thought that he could make his home here and had he not felt able to cope without the proximity of Hilde, which I knew he valued greatly, I would have picked up and moved lock, stock and barrel into his apartment in a heartbeat, to hell with my luxurious comforts. However, he had agreed to move in with me and had given up the lease on his place.

At around 7.00 on my last evening as a single man, I was preparing to take Duo back to his apartment. A strange euphoria had settled over me as I thought of the events that would take place the next day. No nerves or apprehension yet, but I had no doubt that these would visit me in due course. Suddenly my telephone rang, breaking rudely into my thoughts. I snatched up the telephone receiver irritably.

"Yuy – what is it?" I barked at the unwelcome caller. The caller hesitated a little before speaking.

"Heero, it's me." I recognised the voice instantly.

"Wufei?"

"I'm outside your building. Can I come up?"

I hung up the phone, crossed to the front door and buzzed him in. As I waited at the door, Duo came out of the bedroom, all smiles and radiating joy. He took one look at my face and all the animation drained out of him.

"Heero, what's...?" He began to speak, but he broke off at the sound of a light tapping at the door.

I stepped forward to open it, then stepped back to allow Wufei to enter. I heard Duo draw a sharp breath when he saw who I had just admitted. Wufei stood in the entrance hallway and looked from me to Duo, then back again. His face was almost normal again, with the only signs of his injury being the bluish remains of some bruising below both eyes. His nose was free from swelling and, gratifyingly for him I was sure, was as straight as an arrow. The medical professionals who had treated him had done an exemplary job. He had not been wearing his customary spectacles that fateful night, having just begun experimenting with contact lenses, and he was not wearing them now. I longed to ask him how the lenses were working out, but those days of camaraderie were gone.

"What do you want?" I asked, not particularly coldly, but I was not exactly warm and inviting either.

"Er, I'll just go and er...," Duo murmured from behind me as he attempted to beat a retreat.

"No," Wufei said sharply, then he repeated it in a mellower tone, "No, please stay Duo. I came to speak to you as much as to Heero."

I half-turned towards Duo, not taking my eyes from Wufei, and held my hand out to him. He advanced, entwined his fingers with mine and stood close beside me. We both stood together as a unit, waiting for him to speak. Wufei glanced down at our clasped hands, swallowed hard, then spoke in a clear, unwavering voice, addressing his remarks to Duo.

"Duo," He began, "I don't know what to say to you. I owe you so much more that a mere apology, that I don't think I will ever be able to repay the debt. I have treated you abominably from the first moment of our meeting, which I am heartily ashamed of, but I bitterly regret and repent of my behaviour towards you the other evening – I think you know what I mean?" Duo nodded and he continued. "I had my reasons for behaving as I did, but I do not put them forward as any form of mitigation, because they were very selfish reasons and would not enhance my reputation in any way. Suffice it to say that I was very wrong to do what I did to you and I am very sorry to have upset you. You did nothing to deserve my treatment of you, you who have nothing but love and goodness in your heart. Heero is very lucky to have found you." He then turned to me.

"Heero, I come cap-in-hand to you today to ask you, not for forgiveness, which I would not dare to ask, but for a favour. I ask it in the name of the brotherly love you once held for me and the friendship we once had. I ask, nay, beg to be allowed to attend your wedding, not as your best man for I have forfeited that honour, but perhaps I could just sit at the back...?" He shrugged helplessly and tailed off.

"I'm afraid that it is not my decision to make." I said in an even voice, trying not to give anything away although my heart was racing in my breast. "It's for Duo to decide since it was he you injured, not I. It depends upon whether or not he accepts your apology. Duo...?" I turned to him.

"Er, well yeah..., sure..." He said falteringly, raising enquiring eyebrows at me as if to ascertain whether his response had met with my approval. At that moment he looked so adorable that I could have swept him into my arms and kissed him soundly. I turned back to Wufei.

"You can come," I said, then added, "And if you can cover those bruises, you can still be my best man. I'm not having you looking like a panda in my wedding photographs."

It all went pretty well after that. Duo and I exchanged our vows the next day and Wufei was brutally efficient as my best man. Duo looked ethereally beautiful and I have to admit that I almost wept with happiness when I saw him. I had requested that he wear the black brocade frock coat that he had worn on the evening of our first date. He had complied, but the collarless shirt, jeans and bikers boots that he had worn with it, had been replaced with a wing-collared dress shirt, ascot tie with jewelled pin, dress trousers and hand-tooled leather shoes. His hair, as it had been then, was unbraided and caught up at the nape of his neck in a black silk scarf tied in a large, floppy bow. His bangs were combed back into the ponytail, with only a few wispy strands allowed to fall onto his brow, and two tendrils of hair had been teased free and fell on either side of his face, framing and softening the severity of the look. He even wore a pair of black kid gloves, which he removed to allow me to place the ring on his finger, revealing beautifully manicured fingernails. Hilde had surpassed herself; he looked breathtaking. As for myself, Quatre had selected my outfit and had hired a stylist to groom me to perfection, and while I admit that my own appearance was elegantly dapper, it was Duo who drew the gasps of wonder and appreciation as he proceeded along the aisle of the wedding chapel.

Many-a-time I have heard Trowa say that his wedding day was the happiest day of his life. I had always dismissed this as cloying sentimentality – until my own wedding day. I now know exactly where he is coming from. I think I can safely say, without fear of contradiction, that the day I married Duo was the happiest day of my life, although the six months since have been pretty good too. Since Duo moved in I find myself doing things I never dreamed I would ever do, like hosting dinner parties and looking after neighbours pets while they are away. Having lived in this apartment block for three years without saying more than 10 words to any of my neighbours, within six months Duo has cultivated them all to the extent that we now have numerous gifts of pies and casseroles left on our doormat, we have been put up for membership of the country club and I have been appointed chairman of the resident's committee! Duo Maxwell has definitely changed my life for the better, expanding and enriching it in ways to numerous to mention. I only hope I have done as much for him, and if I have failed in this, it is certainly not for want of effort.

By the way, apart from the conjunction of myself and my beloved Duo, one more good thing occurred on our wedding day. Wufei was introduced to Treize Kushrenada, Duo's tutor at college and his employer, who also persisted in making advances towards him, which Duo constantly had to repel. After Duo took up with me, Mr Kushrenada withdrew his attentions, but still retained Duo as his part-time research assistant, and we all became quite good friends. Wufei met him at the wedding and they seemed to hit it off rather well. Wufei has been seeing quite a lot of him ever since and now it's Treize this and Trieize that. Somehow I don't think Trowa and I need to worry about Wufei being left alone any more.

20


End file.
